1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a backlight assembly and a liquid crystal display apparatus. More particularly, the present invention relates to a backlight assembly capable of preventing lamp breakage and a liquid crystal display apparatus having the backlight assembly.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, liquid crystal display apparatuses, a type of flat panel display apparatus, display images using liquid crystal. The liquid crystal display apparatuses have advantageous characteristics, including, for example, thin thickness, low driving voltage, low power consumption, etc., and is widely applied to various electronic instruments.
The liquid crystal display apparatus is a non-emissive type display apparatus and thus includes a backlight assembly that generates a light.
The backlight assembly includes a lamp that generates light. One type of lamp usable in the backlight assembly is a cold cathode fluorescent lamp (“CCFL”) having a long cylindrical shape. The backlight assembly having the CCFL is classified as either an edge-illumination type backlight assembly or a direct-illumination type backlight assembly. In the edge-illumination type backlight assembly, the lamp is positioned adjacent to a side surface of a transparent light guide plate, and light generated from the lamp is reflected from the light guide plate toward a liquid crystal display panel. In the direct-illumination type backlight assembly, a plurality of lamps are under the liquid crystal display panel, a diffuser plate is disposed between the lamps and the liquid crystal display panel and a reflecting plate is disposed under the lamps. Light generated from the lamps is reflected from the reflecting plate and diffused by the diffuser plate. The diffused light is irradiated onto the liquid crystal display panel. The direct-illumination type backlight assembly may have wider brightness than the edge-illumination type backlight assembly. Therefore, a small screen liquid crystal display apparatus has the edge-illumination type backlight assembly, and a large screen liquid crystal display apparatus has the direct-illumination type backlight assembly.
In the direct-illumination type backlight assembly, a length of the lamps and a size of the diffuser plate increase the volume of the backlight assembly. The backlight assembly further includes a holding member that fixes the lamps and supports the diffuser plate. The lamps are combined with the holding member in a perpendicular direction with respect to the diffuser plate.
However, the lamps are easily separated from the holding member by an impact that is provided outside of the backlight assembly, which can result in breakage of the lamps. If an opening width of the holding member is too small, the lamps are not easily combined with the holding member, but if the opening width of the holding member is too large, the lamp is easily separated from the holding member.